Does Navigation require Onstar subscription?
Somebody asked me the question yesterday.
Will Nav work after Onstar expires?
I know bluetooth is independent of Onstar, but is the Nav?
Is the only fee map updates?
Some features utilize XM, so if XM expires do you lose some functionality?
You do not need Onstar for the Nav to work. I let my Onstar expire and the Nav works just fine. If you want to update the Nav maps, you need a new SIM card or purchase a firmware update, depending what year you have. So yes, the Nav is independent of Onstar.
XM basically adds real time traffic updates but if you don't renew XM the Nav will work minus real time traffic. Not all XM packages include the traffic updates, it is an add on I think - I have XM but did not purchase the traffic component. In my 2013 I noticed during free XM I would get traffic updates but didn't find it very useful.I had the 2013 for over 5 years and never had Onstar or XM, the built in Nav worked just fine.
Depending what year your car is, you may have Andriod Auto and CarPlay. These work just fine for real time traffic, I use AA when I need to scope out traffic issues. I use built in Nav when I am not concerned about traffic.